I was born in Luton, England, but have lived in New Zealand since 1973. I trained at the University of Auckland and gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1988. My main focus has always been portraits in acrylic or oil pastels - typically of the rich-and-famous, and portraying events in their lives they'd rather forget! However, since 2004 I've got interested in ceramics. These extend the two-dimensional portraits into the third dimension and are a contemporary update of the English Toby jug tradition.
I've been in solo and group exhibitions in New Zealand, Australia (1994) and the Netherlands (2001) and have works held in public collections at the Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui, The Dowse,  Lower Hutt, the James Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, and the New Zealand Parliament collection, Wellington.
My garden is a work of art too! As I live at the beach I've chosen a mix of yuccas, cereus, aloes, agaves, cacti, and several native cabbage trees as they thrive in dry sandy conditions. It has taken time to build the plant collection and like any garden its a never ending project.
www.paulrayner.co.nz